bluebells - Portrait Photographer Bedford-

 I used to live in a beautiful place in Harpenden, where once a year in a forest near by, the bluebells would show up creating a mantel of blue. Funnily enough for the first 4 years I never saw them! Once I discovered them, I would go up every year and take some photos of the beautiful view.

We live a bit far from there now, but we found a gorgeous place near home covered with lovely bluebells, the pathways, the colours, everything seems utterly from a magical world.
The first time we went to check them up, it was a super windy day and I took only a few photos as we looked around.

On the 13 of May, it was my husbands birthday, and he wanted to go back as well as me to take more photos! The day was cloudy, raining as well as windy! But, we managed a few photos.

Marc loves the nature, loves to walk with Lemmy and they play so well, imagining they are chasing dragons, looking for treasures and so on. Into the wild. Lainey loves to be out and about, she likes to touch and feel the flowers, she observes her every surounding and tries to lick the wind.

There's something about nature that refreshes your being, your soul. Seeing what has been made brings us into a real connection with the maker.

Good times!

    She did not stop chatting away!!

      My cheeky piglet!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband!!!!!

 About to head home before we get all wet,  Marc took a few photos of me with my girl by the car park.

My 4 year old

I tend to procrastinate for many reasons. When it comes to writing, I always end up with so much that then, it takes me longer to post anything. There's a few drafts waiting…so, for the moment I thought I would share some photos I took the other day.

I don't remember when was the day that suddenly my boy started to cover his face for photographs, running away from the camera or being super silly. He used to love it, he used to ask me : I made a tower, take a photo mummy, I made a poo, take a photo mummy and I did! Sometimes he still asks me to take photos of an angry bird, another bigger tower, a drawing... but not so much with him in it :(. I do love natural photos of daily things that I want to remember, only now and then I have a few more formal ones, but I do tend to love the sponteneous ones better, they carry so much emotion, so much life.
Since Lainey was born, I had a new model to go crazy with photos without holding back, without a hand in front of the face! So, guess what?  I started to hear : mummy, can I be in the photo? can you take a photo of me now? and so I did! Those moments don't usually last more than a few minutes, so I need to make the most of it!

My wonderful sweet 4 year old boy, almost 5! I adore you every day more and more. You surprise me daily. Now, we can sit and talk, you have so many questions, you are searching, learning new things, wanting to grow. In the mist of all the questions about Jesus, God, the Holy Spirit, there's so many things we don't have yet the answers for, and so we say I don't know, then you said as a matter of fact : God is the biggest mistery of it all. And there you have your answer. You are full of jumping beans inside of you! SO much energy all day long! You get excited for so many things, small and big. Today you were jumping up and down because mummy made you an ice cream ( frozen bananas, a bit of milk and a pintch of cinammon) mmm this is soo delicious!! Mummy, this is the best ice cream ever! wow, I can eat it for ever and ever, I can't stop making the sounds mmm mmm mmm…it's impossible tasty..and so on and on!
It made me so happy to see him soo happy. He is so thankful for everything. He is quick to forgive, quick to extend grace, quick to say : Don't worry mummy, it was an accident ( if I drop something in the floor and I got a bit upset ) He enjoys life, he lives it to the full. He is so thoughtful, he picks flowers on the way to the park for me, he says things like : if that flower was turquise (my fav colour) then I will give it to you mummy. He loves to be silly and make silly jokes. He adores and looks after his baby sister like no one I ever known! It's almost as if he has the best of Marc and the best of me….yes, ok, nobody is perfect but this entry it's all about him. My first son, who came into my life as a beautiful gift from above and I treasure him daily. I could write and write so much about him, so many things I don't ever want to forget, the days pass and I realise that I already forgot the clever comment he made the other day or the amazing words he spoke about me. Yes, I forget, and I don't carry a note book around the house, maybe I should?!

Ok, Here is Lemmy. 2nd of May being himself!

A change of athmosphere

24 of April 2013

Since we had Lainey, we had to adjust to a lot. Everything took longer, house chores started to pile up more and more….life got a lot busier all of the sudden! Wonderful busier.

Now that Lainey is almost 6 months old, she engages a lot more with play, has more awake time and a bit more of a routine  going.Today, after Marc left for his staff meeting, Lainey was asleep on her chair. I took some time to have a cup of tea with toast, together with Lemmy, we chatted.

After Lainey woke up and had her feed, we went upstairs and read lots of the books that Lemmy chose last night for his bed time stories ( which I didn't get to read as he fell asleep before I went into the room)

Then, I took Lainey to her room. My mum stayed there for almost 3 months and though we put Lainey to play in her cot a few times a day, we hardly spend any time there. I'm trying for her to start getting used to her surroundings there, so she can start sleeping there during nap times and later on at night times. We did the same with Lemmy, and it worked wonders.

I took a few of Lemmy's baby toys out and sat her in front of them. Lemmy came soon after with his own blanket and put some toys there too.

I said, hey why we don't sing some songs?! yeah, Lemmy said. We started with la cucaracha ( his request), el payaso plin plin, a few Argentinian classics. He was into it, we were all using some instruments, including Lainey with the shaker. Then, I said Let's worship God! We started to sing some worship songs together.

Suddenly our time turned into our own special little church :). After we worshiped, we had a time of thanksgiving.

Lemmy gave thanks that he likes Angry birds, the clouds, and our baby.

I then prayed for a few family members that don't know Jesus yet, and Lemmy pray for Lainey " That she will get to know Jesus when she grows up"

Lemmy wanted to also pray for gifts that he would like to recieve ( a new star wars guy, a bad one )

Then, I told him how to be friends with someone you need not to just talk and talk but it's very important to listen as well. Like mummy and daddy are best friends, imagine if only one of us do all the talking ! Then, it won't be much of a friendship, right? So, we had a moment of silence to hear what God had to say to us.

After a little while, Lemmy said: I want to say what God told me! " He said, I'm silly" And Jesus said I'm silly too…we both laugh. Lemmy it's really into being silly to make us laugh:)  and I said, That may be because God is funny!

Lemmy wanted to know what God told me. He said, He loves me, I told him. Lemmy then said: " that means that God is wonderful!!"

Usually in the mornings I'm a bit grumpy, sleepy and tired I must admit. Since I was little I grew up waking up at almost noon, going to school after lunch, having late nights…bla bla. Meaning that no matter if I had a good night sleep or not, mornings are just hard! I'm more awake at night, I'm more efficient at night…no matter the amount of sleep I had the night before, night time is where things can get done faster and when I can engage better!

But today, the way we started our half morning, changed the athmosphere. It was amazing. I was happier, I felt refreshed. Lemmy suddenly started helping me in whatever I was doing. First he put all the baby clothes in the line, then helped me to pair the dry socks and put them away, then pick all the trousers and jeans to be washed and put them in the laundry machine. He used to be that helpful when he was 1, 2 and 3…but for a while he hasn't been that interested in house chores ( with that much excitment!) It was so sweet, he put all the toys that didn't belong in the living room, dinner room, hallway..etc back to where they came from and so on. Marc told me, wow , what a little bit of worship and prayer can do, hey!
I would like to incorporate this family gatherings more into our life, I hope we can do it often, just spontenously like it happened today. Lemmy has been so hungry for God, to know more of Jesus, that has been so refreshing to watch. We never pushed anything onto him, and just all by himself he's started to discover the truth.

For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. -Jesus (mathew 7:8) A photo of Lainey that day before we started to sing. Taken with my phone on Instagram.

Leilani at 24 weeks

20 of April 2013

A few things I wrote about Lainey the past week when she was 24 weeks old! ( she is 25, going on 26 now!)

Two days ago Lainey started to shake her head from side to side ( no no no ) it's the cutest thing!

She started to sit for longer periods of time. She loves to sit, stand up and be held lots! 

If I go away from her presence, she follows me with her eyes and starts calling me right away, fussing or crying. She wants to be with me pretty much all the time! She is such a mummy's girl! 

She is starting to get frustrated if she can't get something from a table ..etc! What a character! She wants the camera, video, phone…you name it! 

She still wakes up every 2 hours to eat! Sometimes every 1 hour and a half!  ( for the past month)

One day she slept two streches of 5 hours each. Yesterday she did 2 streches of 3 hours, one of 2 hours and 40 minutes and one of 2! Improving!? I guess I should have slept more when she was doing 8 hours or more! 

Though it is tiring, I have to say that I remember it felt harder when I was nursing Lemmy at times, as he used to eat for so long…he had a rough patch of sleeping about the same time as Lainey. I wonder why? Lainey eats for less than 6 minutes and as I lie her down, she keeps on sleeping :)

She is so fun, she loves to laugh and giggle! She is a very sensitive soul. If I had a bit of an argument with Marc or I was upset cause my mum left, she senses and cries too… :(

I love you so much Lainey! She has been having a hard time to fall asleep in the night, She is crying every time I put her down, even though I'm with her all the time and she is comfy in our bed! We are trying to help her in any way we can, singing, holding her, burping her, talking…stroking her head and hands…today she went down easier. We try to keep her routine, though just pushed her bed time a bit later as she has been enjoying more play time now that she is a bit older.She went down at 7:20pm today and she is out. Today was good.

For naps, she only falls asleep on our arms with music on, the curtains shut,less light. We try to put her down in her chair…but only lasts less than 20 minutes! 

Still loves and can fall asleep in the car seat, sling and buggy.

Love her so much! My little princess!! I enjoy dressing her up with pretty dresses, with pink, head bands and tights. She is a delight! She is always smiling and gets super excited with the slightest attention. 

I have been taking tons of pictures of her since the day she has born. Hopefully shared more of the oldies and new ones here! Every week I do one on her cot to see the difference at the end of the year, every 4 weeks I put her in a chair alone, and with her bunny, also to compare later on…I'm trying to take lots and lots as I please, and she ADORES the camera! She instantly starts to kick her legs, laughs and smiles…Here I want to share some photos of her 24th week of being with us! 

Leilani Valentina Sol James, you are truly our heavenly flower. 

With big brother Lemmy, they both adore each other to the max!

As you can see, Lainey still dislikes to be on her tummy, she lasts only seconds! Here they are watching daddy, and Lemmy is sharing sweet talk with her.

Let go

While browsing through this blog, I found a few drafts that I never posted. I think I will try to post some oldies too. This I wrote back over the summer.

18 of July 2012

We are expecting our 2nd baby and we also just moved from a flat to a home, in a different town. This time around pregnancy has been a bit rough. Everything is ok, just the long list of issues that I won't bother to write! The usual things that come with pregnancy to some women.

The move, living among boxes, sorting and organising while being pregnant and with a 4 year old to look after felt like a huge Everest to climb. It has been a bit tough.

In the mist of it all, it bothers me that some things get behind and I sometimes get caught in the circumstances and I stop enjoying things. I start to miss things.

As for today, it was a day full of tasks to accomplish. We went to town to buy some things for Lemmy's party. We had lunch in town. Marc had a Skype appointment and office time. Lemmy wanted to go to the park. After being dragged to all of those places, we all went to the park. It was wet and we were the only family in the whole park! Marc went to get fish and chips. I played a bit with Lemmy but mostly I was sitting watching him. He jumped from one place to another one, so happy , so free. I love how children are. I love how my son is….he quickly forgets anything that's bothered him and starts enjoying life by playing, by being in the moment and seizing it.

Play is such an important part of a child's life. 

Marc came back and we all gathered around a picnick table and enjoyed such an English meal! I haven't had fish and chips for so long….we loved it.

After playing some more, I notice a big cloud coming near. I thought to myself, we should leave quickly before it starts to rain. I didn't say anything. The drops came and we went under a tree to wait for the rain to stop. We played an Argentinian game of chasing each other with a song. We laughed. Lemmy was saying that the tree wasn't protecting us much, the rain started to come through, and he wanted to go home. I say: yes, let's go! Marc wasn't so sure. He said, it will stop, let's wait until it's gone. The rain came stronger and stronger….then slowed down, then stronger again. I said: Let's go, let's walk fast or run! 

In the end we went for it, holding hands the 3 of us started to walk. It was raining hard. " This is not the kind of rain that you walk through" Marc said. We walked 3 blocks and then we heard the lightning and thunders roar, we all squealed, and started to race faster…the water started to flood in every corner, puddles everywhere. The rain became stronger and harder…we were not skipping puddles anymore, we were walking fast, laughing and giggling! We were almost home when we saw our neighbours across the street looking at the rain and then saw us! They started to laugh! We were completely soaked. No part of any of our bodies was dry! It was like walking through the middle of a swimming pool. It felt goooooood. It felt great!!!!!! I felt like a kid again. I felt free. Joy filled me. 

We stood at our door and I wish I could have taken a photo of how wet we were…. we got all the shoes and clothes off, dumped them into the floor and went straight for a warm shower! 

We were all hyper still from our little adventure.

The usual me,  would have thought and be annoyed about the extra laundry I needed to do, of the wet hallway, or that my favourite comfy shoes I had been wearing through my whole pregnancy would not  be dry the following day! etc…etc..

But I didn't think of anything until now. While we were running and laughing, nothing else mattered. It was amazing really. Life can get so busy and so full of things to get done that we miss little things or even big things. I always try not to ever miss anything related to Lemmy as he is the most important thing for me but still the hours are slipping by and we still have to do work, house chores…etc.

Life is hard at times, but is full of little moments of happiness and joy here and there. I bet if we let go more often, we could find more joy.To become a child felt good and refreshing.

I was happy. 

Lemmy playing hide and seek with daddy

Here we go again

17 of April 2013

Here we go again. Not sure where to start. That's my problem. That's why it has taken me a long time to come back. Work got quite busy, then I got too behind on my blogging,  and since I like to keep everything in order ( chronologically ) it was too overwhelming and I stopped blogging all together. Then, I started a few photography projects, and that got a bit too much as well. My husband suggested for me to stop putting so much pressure on myself and just do what I can, it was a bit much so I left all of them half way. He says I'm a perfectionist, I never thought of myself that way. But I guess in some things I am. 

Last february I got pregnant, and I was so sick that I had to stop working. I kept on taking photos of my family but I wasn't able  to go though them all so I keep falling behind my photo albums, my scrapbooks, baby books…etc…you name it! 

At the end of the year 2012 my main Hard drive broke ( I had it all backed up on a cloud system but no where else! )I still don't now if there was something there I didn't have back up anywhere else! I think I don't…So, that added me another chore, to recover everything from the cloud and put it into another hard drive…I'm still doing it! It's tedious. There's lots and lots of photos and videos I must put onto a new Hard drive. So, now I have to back up into 2 hard drives and the cloud website. That seems like enough. I hope so!

My beautiful baby girl arrived October 27, 2013. I fell in love all over again. We are in completely awe of this wonderful wonder!  

We are still adjusting to a family of 4! Needless to say, life got a lot more busier! Photos getting way behind….house chores piling up. I don't know what it is like to have the whole house tidy and clean , every room included, all at the same time! Once upon a time, that was super important! Not so much now….well, it does bug me now and then.

We had a big move in the middle of my pregnancy. Oh, I don't even want to remember that! It was super stressful, top it up with nauseas, vomit, hormones all over the place,back ache…it was not pretty.

Since the move was chaos and rushed, I wanted the settling into the new home to go slowly and in my own time…well, it took for ever! 

and…my photos got more and more and more behind…sigh.

To me, as you must guess,  photographs are very important. Having everything digital is good, but  I still  do prefer having the albums on my hands to flip them and to look at the prints closer. It's nice. I do also enjoy looking back at my blog, the photos of Lemmy being so little, together with whatever I wrote at the time. I do. 

I have been following other blogs, and once again I started to itch to continue with mine.

I thought a lot last year about all that I wanted to get done and the things I never got done…and This year I decided a few things.

First, I 'm not going to put any more pressure into doing and  finishing a yearly project. I don't want to stress over trivial things. I'm going to take it easy. Now, we are talking about photography…I still want to take photos! It's my passion! 

One thing I enjoyed was to join instagram, it's a great, fun, easy way of capturing my family on the spot, no editing, no fuss. Maybe just a quick filter now and then! I want to enjoy my kids to the full when they are awake, and try to do photos when they are asleep. Yes, nice in theory. The thing is that pretty much every chore gets pushed after the kids go to sleep….and the reality strikes, when the kids are gone to sleep, I crash…onto the couch! ( where I am right now!) Not even at my desk…nope. 

No to stress, enjoy more life. Some days I don't even pick up the big camera…and when I do, I don't suddenly take 1000 photos in one go. Yes, I used to do that!

No to stress, take it easy, enjoy life, enjoy my kids, enjoy the moment. Embrace each day and what it brings. 

Slowly try to get some photos done, slowly get things printed….slowly, no pressure. All those words, I tried to remind myself. Some days are better than others. 

I want to blog again, I want to put some photos of my little girl and write things that the day bring. I want to share things, I want to start again. Not where I left. NO. No pressure. I will write whenever I feel like, I will share the photos I have ready at the moment. Yes, I like that. 

Another thing I stopped blogging because English is my second language, so I would always ask Marc to correct my grammar at least, as sometimes he would tell me: Veronica, that doesn't make any sense! It does to me! He is not great at English grammar but at least he makes sure I do make sense! 

Here we go again! :)

I leave with a few photos of my two loves. Random pick from Marc's computer. :)

       Lemmy over the summer 2012, after he turned 4 years old.

Lainey at 18 days old

Lainey- 1 months old-

22 de Mayo-an afternoon in the garden-Oxford

Bob & Darcy have a very big garden. Since we live in a flat, it's such a treat for Lemmy to spend the whole day in a garden. 

First thing, the trampoline! 

I wish I could remember what he was looking at?! haha

Having so much fun!

Ok, time to play with some trucks now.

The flowers need some watering. Another of Lemmy's fav things to do!! Watering the plants, and getting wet of course!

This is a lot of work!

A very good helper indeed.

After taking some photos, I went and relax in the hammock under the warmth of the sun. Lovely.